Google has been awarded a United States patent for what, in legalese, is “transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” — essentially a self-driving car. To be more precise, U.S. Patent 8,078,349 covers a car being driven by a human that transitions to being autonomously driven. This transition may include stopping a vehicle on a predefined “landing strip” and detecting a reference indicator which tells the vehicle its exact position and provides an URL that links to an instruction to go autonomous.
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Google Patents Driverless Car Tech for Sliding In and Out of Tight Spots
Posted by: Richard Adhikari December 16, 2011 12:19 PMGoogle has been awarded a United States patent for what, in legalese, is “transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” — essentially a self-driving car. To be more precise, U.S. Patent 8,078,349 covers a car being driven by a human that transitions to being autonomously driven. This transition may include stopping a vehicle on a predefined “landing strip” and detecting a reference indicator which tells the vehicle its exact position and provides an URL that links to an instruction to go autonomous.